Beast Boy and Raven have never gotten along with each other. But when the two magically switch bodies, they must learn to live in each other's shoes and deal with each other's problems. True feelings are revealed as they gradually understand each other, but will a tragic mistake destroy their budding romance? Chapter 26; one year after the events of the story, their lives continue.

Disclaimer: I claim to own none of the original Teen Titans characters. However, all original characters were invented by me. Any similarities to other FanFiction original characters or stories are purely coincidental.

Summary: Beast Boy and Raven have never gotten along with each other. But when the two magically switch bodies, they must learn to live in each other's shoes and deal with each other's problems. True feelings are revealed, but will a tragic mistake destroy their budding romance?

Author Notes: This is a story I've had in my head while working on my last FanFiction. The key theme in this story is "What are you willing to do to save the ones you love?" and the love presented in this story will not only be romantic love. You'll understand the meaning behind these words as the story progresses. For now, simply read the story and if you liked it, please follow, favorite, and review! :)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

JTTran presents

Difficult Words to Say

Chapter I - Introduction

I remember it was raining when I had met him. Foggy, too. Not to mention somewhat dark. Naturally, the people on the streets—myself included—ran into the nearest buildings to seek shelter from the rain. It was there that I first saw him, sitting next to me inside the Bank of Pérez, waiting for the rain to lessen.

I did not take much notice of him at first and kept staring out into the rain, muttering, "Great. Just great."

"It's not too bad," the man sitting next to me replied. "I've seen worse, trust me." I glanced at him casually. He seemed to be in his mid-20s, fairly young, and was completely green from head to toe—though strangely I did not take much notice of it. The man started speaking again, "Looks like we'll be here for a while." He extended his hand and I took it as we introduced ourselves. His name was Garfield Logan—or "Gar" for short. The name struck me as somewhat familiar.

"If you don't mind me asking," he said to me. "Do you believe in love?" I asked him what kind of question was that. "I'm just wondering," he replied. "Just trying to make conversation."

I told him I didn't know, but I probably did not. "Well then," he said with a smile. "I have a story that'll make you believe in love."

I raised my eyebrows in interest. But I was suspicious. "Does your story take place in Shakespearean time? About a young Montague and a Capulet falling in love?"

"No."

"Does it take place one hundred years ago about two lovers on the Titanic when it sank?"

"No, no. It starts right here in Jump City and ends right here in Jump City."

"And it'll make me believe in love?"

"Yes."

"That's a tall order."

"Not so tall that you can't reach."

"Tell me," I said, glancing out the window and seeing the downpour of rain. "There's nothing much better for me to do anyway."

"Okay, but listen closely. I think it's a story you'd like," he said with a mysterious smile. He pointed out the window. "Have you been near the beach lately?"

"I went yesterday."

"Have you seen that giant tower? The one shaped like a 'T'? They call it the Titans Tower. It used to house one of the strongest superhero teams in the world: Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and Beast Boy—the Teen Titans. But mostly this story is about the last two people—the changeling named Beast Boy and the sorceress named Raven. This is their story."

...

Glass cups jumped into the air for a second as Raven's hand slammed onto the table. A frying pan was levitated out of the pantry and thrown towards a certain green parrot. "Get back here, Beast Boy!" she cried as she levitated a few spoons nearby.

The parrot reverted to human form, revealing a boy completely green from head to toe. "I already told you I'm sorry! What else do you want?" he exclaimed as he ducked behind a chair.

"Sorry doesn't get me my book back, does it?" she yelled. "Do you have any idea how important that book was?"

"Dude!" he waved his arms frantically. "It was just a blank book! There was nothing on it. It wasn't worth anything, right? No harm no foul?"

"It was not just a blank book!"

Beast Boy opened his mouth as if to say something but abruptly changed into a turtle as another frying pan flew in his direction. He didn't get why Raven was getting so mad. It was just a blank book. After realizing there was nothing in it, he had left it on his bed where it was perfectly safe and sound. Before being found by Silkie. Technically it wasn't his fault the book ended up in a mutant moth larva's digestive system.

"Well then what was it?" he said.

"I don't have time to explain to you!"

"No, you're just saying that because you don't want to admit that I really did just take a plain, empty book."

"What, you think I'm plotting different ways to tear you limb by limb just because I want to? I'm plotting different ways to torture you because you took one of the most important things in my room! And destroyed it!"

"Well technically I wasn't the one that destroyed—"

"SHUT UP!"

A bowling ball left aside in the living room made its way across the room towards Beast Boy until a blaring red alarm went off. Raven immediately dropped the bowling ball and ran with Beast Boy towards the sofas in the Main Operations Room. They were quickly joined by Starfire and Cyborg who, too, made their way to the sofas as they waited for the last Titan. In time, he came with the grim announcement. "We've got trouble," he said. "Someone's trying to steal Unobtainium to sell on the black market."

"Unobtainium?" Cyborg said with a start. "What do you mean? There is none in Jump City."

"How much can a 1/100th fragment sell for?" Raven asked, her recent fight with Beast Boy completely off her mind.

"It's hard to say. Could be anywhere from $500,000 to $2 million."

"Then we'd better go," Beast Boy said.

"Right. Titans GO!"

…

A bright light lit the large vault, shining upon a small shard of crystalline glass. A man in a black outfit surrounded by several guards held the object in his hands as he examined it closely. "Unobtainium," he muttered. "You'll sell very nicely, yes you will."

"I'm afraid that Unobtainium's been put on hold," came a distant voice. The man turned around to see the five Titans standing before him. "Ah, the Teen Titans. I've been expecting you," he declared. "Unfortunately, I'm not one for formalities. Just call me Rift."

"It's a good thing we're not into formalities, either," Robin replied. "We don't really care much what your name is."

Rift merely snickered and whispered to the guards at his side, "Would you please take care of these pests?" The guards nodded and immediately ran forward to attack the Titans.

"They must be working for Rift and stole some uniforms," Robin said. "Doesn't matter. We'll take 'em down anyway."

Robin took out his bo staff and struck a guard aside as Beast Boy transformed into a massive bear and fought off the nearby guards. Raven telekinetically controlled some rope to subdue the guards while Starfire and Cyborg turned their attention towards Rift, as their powers were far too strong and they didn't want to risk killing any people.

Starfire shot starbolts at Rift, who evaded them swiftly and rebounded one towards Cyborg. The massive man fell down in shock, but quickly recuperated and fired a small sonic cannon blast. The masked marauder teleported away just before being hit. He reappeared just behind Starfire and struck her on the head with a kick.

"Wonder why they call me Rift?" he taunted as he teleported again. Reappearing behind Robin and landing several swift punches on the unsuspecting Boy Wonder, he continued, "I'm surprised you haven't heard of me. I'm a riot in Gotham. Your Titans East friends have met me on a few occasions. Never caught me though. Because whenever I'm caught—" He teleported once more, appearing behind Raven and attacking her by surprise. "—whenever I'm caught, I'm really not." He disappeared.

Anticipating his enemy's next move and realizing Rift would reappear behind him, Cyborg shouted, "Oh no you don't!" and swung his fist behind him, striking Rift just as he had reappeared. The man in black took the hit hard as he was flung to a wall, giving a noticeable crack as he hit the concrete. As he stood up and reached for a weapon, starbolts were shot at him, causing him to flee into the shadows of the vault.

Raven, having dispatched the remaining guards, closed her eyes and focused her Soul-self, searching through the shadows for her target. She found him and quickly summoned dark shadows to wrap themselves around Rift, trapping him. "Grr," he growled as he struggled to loosen himself. The Teen Titans slowly closed in on the trapped thief.

"Now hand over the Unobtainium," Cyborg ordered, charging his sonic cannon and aiming it at the man in black.

"How about no?" came the reply.

"You are trapped, Rift," Starfire said sternly.

"Not—quite yet," he said. "My little Titans, you have failed to learn—I am never caught." Robin sensed a smile underneath the mask. Struggling through the shadows, Rift reached over his belt and pressed a button. In seconds he disappeared, swallowed by what seemed to be a small black hole.

"What is that?" Cyborg yelled.

"A black hole?" Beast Boy cried.

"Some kind of rip in the space-time continuum!" Robin replied. He felt himself being slowly pulled in.

"…A rift…" Starfire realized.

"I can't move!" Raven said. "The shadows I trapped him with… It's pulling me in!" Beast Boy looked at her in horror; she was clearly struggling but was slowly sliding closer and closer to the rift. "I—I can't—" she cried before losing her balance and falling into the rift. She disappeared.

"Raven!" Beast Boy suddenly cried. He instinctively ran after her and jumped into the portal despite the others' protests.

"No!" Cyborg bellowed as the rift closed. "B.B.! Rae!"

Robin cursed and frantically picked up his Titans communicator. "Raven! Beast Boy! Can you hear me?"

Static.

Again, he repeated the same thing.

More static.

Robin angrily tossed the communicator onto the ground. "R—bin?" a voice came. He instantly snatched it back up and answered, "Yeah, I'm here. Raven? Please tell me you two are alright."

"I'm—fine. What is this place?"

"What? Where are you?" Cyborg said.

"I dunno. It's like some kind of—Space Compression wormhole or something. Everything's here… I see you guys, too!"

"What do you mean 'Space Compression'?" Robin asked.

"It's hard to say in words," Beast Boy's voice came. "Imagine the entire world being compressed together into one—like, one stream of places, you know?"

"I really don't."

"Imagine what a wormhole looks like in the movies. Like you're time-travelling through a wormhole and if you jump off at a certain place, you can get to a certain point in time. Imagine that, except with places all around the world instead of travelling through time. We can see Wayne Industries from here. The Tower, too—there he is! Rift!"

"We've found Rift. Beast Boy's gone after him. I have trouble moving here so I don't think I can be much help."

"Is there any way you can escape that wormhole, Raven?" Starfire said.

"I see Jump City. If Beast Boy and I time it right, we should be able to jump out of this wormhole thing and into the Tower."

"Raven, we can't let Rift get away with that. Is there any way you can attack him by surprise?"

"I can shoot a stream of dark energy at him. But honestly he's too far away." A pause. "Okay, I can do it, but he and Beast Boy are fighting. I don't have a good shot."

Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire looked at each other. "Never mind," Robin said. "It's too dangerous. Get Beast Boy out of there now!"

"No! Let her!" Beast Boy suddenly interrupted. "It's like you said. We can't let Rift get away with that." The sounds of punching could be heard.

"It's not worth it, B.B.," Cyborg said. "What if Raven misses?"

"She won't!"

"What if you guys land in Canada or Africa or something?"

"Then we'll find our way back! We can't let him get away and I'm clearly losing the fight! Argh!"

"Beast Boy, I don't think I can shoot him without hurting you!"

"Don't shoot it, Raven."

"Trust me. She can do this. Do it, Rae!"

"Raven…" Starfire said.

"I—I can't, Beast Boy! Just get out of there now!"

"Shoot it!" Beast Boy shouted.

Robin's hands were sweaty. "Don't shoot it," he said. "Don't!"

"Shoot it!"

"I don't have a clear shot!" He could hear the panic in Raven's voice.

"Shoot it!"

"Beast Boy, don't!"

"Raven, don't!"

"I—"

"Raven! NOW!"

Silence.

Utter silence.

The three Titans in the vault stood together, staring at the communicator as if it was the only thing keeping them alive.

Raven's voice came from the communicator, as small as a whisper. "Titan down."

…

The three Titans made their way back to Titans Tower. They waited inside the living room silently until the center of the room distorted, creating a rift like a portal. A young woman concealed under a blue cloak stepped out as the portal closed. Her face was sullen and grim.

She shook her head. "I don't know. When I—I shot him with my powers… he fell. He fell from the wormhole thing and landed in who-knows-where. Rift escaped. Disappeared somewhere. I don't know if Beast Boy's still alive."

Cyborg checked his communicator. "I can't get a signal from Beast Boy. His communicator must've been damaged. I can't find him."

"I can't believe I missed… How could I have missed…"

"It wasn't your fault," Robin said comfortingly. "You did your best."

"Beast Boy… he might be dead because of me."

"He's not dead, do you hear? He's perfectly fine. He's just a little lost, but then again, when is he not, right?" Glancing towards Cyborg, he told him, "Go to the computers and scan Earth. Do you think you can detect his genetic signature anywhere?"

"Uh… little boy in a big world equals no can do. Finding his location won't be so easy."

"Is there any way you can find him?"

Cyborg sighed. "I can scan for his genetic signature. If I search for the Sakutia in his DNA it should be easier. It's possible but it will take hours."

"We have all night. You can just set the computers to auto-scan the globe and it should find Beast Boy by tomorrow."

"Alright. I'll go now." Cyborg nodded and left.

Starfire felt Raven's head and said, "Raven, you should go to the infirmary. You may have been injured in the rift."

"I'll be fine, Star. Just need a little time alone," Raven replied.

"No, Star's right," Robin chipped in. "We have no idea what effects the rift could have. It's best you stay in the infirmary for the night."

Raven conceded and nodded as Starfire led her to the elevator. "I'll go contact Titans East!" Robin shouted after them. "Find out more about this Rift character."

"Okay! Goodnight, Robin."

"Night, Robin."

As the two female Titans rode the elevator up, Starfire suddenly piped up, "Raven… may I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure. Anything."

"You and Beast Boy have been fighting a lot."

"Star, if you just now realized that, I think you might have blanked out for the past four years or so."

"Yeah. Like how you and Robin were always and will always be The Couple." Starfire blushed at this as the corners of her lips rose. Raven continued, "Cyborg is the Big Brother. And Beast Boy and I… we're the Two People Who Never Get Along. Doesn't mean we hate each other. He's one of my closest friends. I just can't stand him sometimes… but that's okay. We're just friends… in a different way, know what I mean?"

"Yes I see…" The red-haired girl put her finger to her lips as if she was thinking. "But you know, in Tamaran there is no such thing as that."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. In my world, whenever two people bicker very often, they either hate each other with all their hearts… or they have feelings for each other."

Starfire's eyes widened and she waved her hands in protest. "Oh no! No, of course not! I was just making sure you two did not hate each other."

"Oh… good…" she blew out a sigh of relief.

"Yes. I was merely comparing you and Beast Boy's relationship to those on my planet. I see now that on Earth two people can fight and be friends at the same time. Friends—and not anything else."

"Yeah…" Raven said. "It's completely different on Earth. When two people fight, it doesn't mean they like each other."

"Of course not."

"Yeah. Beast Boy and I—we're just friends. Best friends. And nothing can change that."

"Right."

The elevator opened and Starfire led Raven to a bed where she lied down wearily. "I will check up on you in an hour," the Tamaranian said. "Do you require anything, Raven?"

"No, Starfire. Thanks."

The alien princess nodded and walked back into the elevator, which closed behind her. Raven breathed slowly and closed her eyes as she lay on the bed. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos," she chanted in a whisper. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos." She felt herself leave her body and fly into the air. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos."

"Beast Boy," her voice echoed in her mind. "Beast Boy. Can you hear me?"

"R—Raven?" she heard. Her lips smiled, but continued chanting.

"Thank God I managed to find your aura."

"My aura?"

"It's like your spiritual scent," she explained. "It's a lot easier for me to find you since I've been around you for years. Listen, where are you?"

"I don't really know," Beast Boy said.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Thanks."

"You're sure? I hit you pretty hard."

"Hurts like hell," he laughed. "But I'm fine."

"Look, I'm really sorry about—that."

"It's not your fault. I was the one who told you to shoot. I shouldn't have overestimated your abilities."

"Really, dude? You're gonna go there?"

"Hehe, sorry."

"But really… you're fine?"

"As fine as I'll always be."

"We're going to get you as soon as we locate you."

"Thanks."

Silence.

"Beast Boy…" she said in her mind. "I'm really sorry."

"You said that already," he replied.

"No, not about that. About before that. Our fight. I shouldn't have yelled at you and thrown stuff at you."

Silence. "Well…" he stammered. "I was trying to find a book about Azarath."

"…You? You wanted to read? About Azarath? For some reason, that's not processing in my mind."

"It's true!" she heard him chuckle. "The last time we fought, you said that I never try to understand you. So that's what I tried to do. I wanted to learn more about Azarath and more about you. So I could understand you a bit more, y'know?"

Raven was stunned. Did he really mean that? He wanted to learn more about her? He wanted to understand her? "Wow… really?" she gaped. It took a while to process this. "Why—why didn't you just ask?"

"You would've said no. You would've just said I wouldn't understand."

"That's not true!"

"Oh yeah? What was so important about that book that I took?"

"You wouldn't under—" She stopped herself and swallowed her words, remembering that that was exactly what she had said earlier in the day.

"You see?"

"Shut up…" Beast Boy was quiet, but Raven could tell he was smiling. "It's a communication book," she relented. "It comes in a pair. Whatever you write in one book is magically written in the other. I use it to communicate with my people back home in Azarath."

"Wow," she heard him gasp. "It's like email—for books."

She rolled her eyes. "If you really want to dumb it down like that, then yeah. It's email for books."

"Are you mocking me? For your information, I am capable of intelligent speech; I have the ability to speak with proper diction and syntax, I simply prefer not to, but still it pains me when you jest my speech."

"What did you just say?"

"Like it? I learned it from that Shakespeare book of yours."

"You mean this wasn't the first time you stole from me? You're such a stalker, Beast Boy."

"Hey, but this proves I'm smart, right?"

Raven paused and then replied snarkily, "Isn't it a little dangerous to use your entire vocabulary in one sentence?"

"Dude!"

"Correction: that is your entire vocabulary in one sentence."

"Come on, Rae! Atchoo!"

"Azar bless you. You okay?"

"Yeah. It's just a bit cold here, that's all," he replied.

"Are you okay, Beast Boy?" she asked again. "You're perfectly fine?"

"Yes, yes! For the last time, I'm fine, Raven. Are you okay? I think I should be the one to ask you that. You're acting kinda weird."

"How am I acting weird?"

"You're a bit more—worried—about me than usual."

"Sorry... It's just... these are kind of difficult words to say."

"Yeah, I get it though."

"Hey, I'm the doctor in the house, aren't I?" she said, remembering what Beast Boy had said years ago when she had healed his wound after their first fight with the H.I.V.E. "I'm supposed to be worried about my patients. Especially those I almost killed."

Raven opened her eyes as her telepathic communication with Beast Boy ended. Smiling ever so slightly as she wrapped herself in the blankets of the bed, she whispered to him as if her words will carry themselves to him, "Good night."

~Difficult Words to Say~

What, did you expect them to switch bodies from the very first chapter? Where's the fun in that? Don't worry, they'll switch soon and the REAL story will begin but for now, please REVIEW and tell me what you guys think! :D

Also, the 'Titan Down' scene was inspired by Skyfall. Great movie, by the way. Thanks for the guest reviewer that pointed it out. I completely forgot to mention that at first!

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.